October Newsletter
I hope this newsletter finds you and yours doing well. Our empty nest has had a revolving door on it this year with so many wonderful trips, and I can’t wait to highlight a couple of them for you and offer you a gift I wrote long ago about a remarkable time in our family’s life. Read on, and enjoy!
Pillow Progress
I have planned out the remaining chapters of the book so I can finish my rewrite, and I’m still planning for a finish this year so I can move into editing, editing, and more editing. I am back to writing after experiencing writer’s block (It’s a real thing, in case you’ve wondered) after my work crisis ended. It took a long weekend in St. Louis to get it back at the nationwide conference for American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). Talk about the “energy of together”! It was incredible worship, encouragement, exhortation, instruction, fellowship, and networking with those who carry this gift of many words!
Coauthor and Dear Friend:
Have I officially introduced you to Janette Johnson Melson? Here’s our picture together at the ACFW author awards banquet. We discovered each other as newbies at our first ACFW conference in 2018, and she became a fast, deep, and loyal friend who always has my back, now as my committed book partner. She is also writing her first novel and is editing her manuscript. There’s more to come about her, but in the mean time, see her website at www.jjmelson.com. We traveled together this year from Atlanta to St. Louis, and it was so sweet to have extended time with her.
Alaskan Cruise!
This summer, Tony and I went with our youngest daughters, Ginger and Maggie, on their first cruise and our first time in Alaska. We got to be with our favorite Christian singer/songwriter, Steven Curtis Chapman and enjoyed extended time with our girls. They bonded with our Suite Concierge, who was also from China. She was very excited to speak Mandarin with them, a rare opportunity in her job. Because of their new friendship, we were invited for a grand tour of the Captain’s Bridge to see how this humongous floating city works behind the scenes! Alaska is gorgeous, and in the words of Lifeway’s Star Guest of this cruise, it was a great adventure.
Career Change
Put your seat belts on for some exciting news to me anyway. While I will always be a CFO for our real estate investments, I gave up my outside CFO work and am launching an exciting new venture as a Residential Realtor with Coldwell Banker. I tested for my license for both Salesperson and Broker 35 years ago, so it’s about time I put this asset to better use. It is good that my ACFW conference equipped me with a new way of managing my time and work schedule. It’s been inspiring to learn new things in this related career and feel the excitement of a challenge besides this decade of writing. It’s in keeping with my “life-long learner” goal as I seek to move forward with new growing opportunities.
Favorite Fiction Fanfare
I love this picture, so you get it a second time. It illustrates the magic and sparkle I’ve always found in books. So what books are on my nightstand and in my hand every chance I get because I can’t put them down? Three novels by the Keynote Speaker at ACFW, Charles Martin. His speaking encouraged me to remember that our stories' words are powerful in introducing people to the surprising power to save lives, set them free, and change the world forever - the love of Jesus. He has tackled an intense topic with his trilogy, The Water Keeper, The Letter Keeper, and The Record Keeper. It’s about those who traffic human beings in the worst slavery possible and the heroes who sacrifice everything to set them free. Ladies, if you ever wanted your man to read for enjoyment and inspiration, these books are it. They offer tenderness, intrigue, healing, suspense, romance, life and death scenes, self-sacrifice, heroics, action, romance, weapons and wounds of every kind, fast boats, planes, evil at the deepest level, bravery to match it, and characters who melted my heart. By the end of the last one, you’ll have an epic-clear picture of something priceless. He’s well known on the New York Times bestseller list, so next, I will read to discover some less well-known gems to share with you, maybe someone from our Georgia ACFW. I brought many books home from the ACFW bookstore - a healthy addiction, I think.
Authors are always sharing things to attract new people to share their email address and sign up for their newsletters and blogs, called reader magnets. The overarching goal is to create fans and even superfans. I’m new at this and am offering my first gift! It’s an oldie, something I wrote in 2010. I found it saved as a PDF file, not a Word document so I couldn’t edit it, at least without one more paying subscription, and who needs that? So take it as it is and make mental corrections as I did because it’s my baby-author writing! What’s it about? You may have noticed in our Alaskan pictures that our two youngest daughters don’t quite look like the gene pool of Tony and me. I wrote a story in 2010 to tell how God took us to the other side of the world and captured our hearts for twin girls to make them a part of our forever family with some miracles involved. Click HERE to read!
You’re dinner,” or is it “Your dinner??” Grammer matters! Stop scaring the chickens!
